Apparatus for the manufacture of feed for chickens and other animals



Sept. 13, 1932- v G. M. CHAPIN ETAL 1,877,266

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FEED FOR CHICKENS AND OTHER ANIMALSFiled June 2. 1928 s Sheets-Sheet i EUGTYYE TIS: George J. 0720 0 1 G.M. CHAPIN ETAL APPARATUS FOR THE mmfimcrunrz or FEED FOR CHICKENS ANDOTHER ANIMALS Sept. 13,1932.

Filed Ju'iie 2. 1928 3 sheets-sheet 2 sept.13,1932. G. M. CHAPIN ETAL1,877,266

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FEED FOR CHrCKEfiS AND OTHER ANIMALSFiled June 2, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 magma, 1 7/////A .iTwenl/ara:6601196 J1 Chaplin Hugh/H Goff,

Patented Sept. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- GEORGE MAXSONCHAPIN AND HUGH HARDING GOFR OF HAMMOND, INDIANA APPARATUS FOR THEMANUFACTURE OF FEED FOR GHICKENS AND OTHER ANIMALS Application filedJune 2, 1928. Serial No. 282,486.

This invention relates to feeds and their manufacture which arecompounded out of various difierent food elements for aiming at theresult of producing the food that Will 5 carry a certain quality ofration, as it were, somewhat balanced for special feeding purposesproducing in kernel or granular form a feed of given value containingingredients in assembled form which ingredients are not found in anysingle feed material but must be madeup and fed in the mixed or separateforms as has heretofore been the practice.

The object of the invention is to produce any desired feed for chickensand animals in what may be termed a granular form combining elements notnormally found combined in any one fed article, the purpose being to putthis in kernel or granular form and thus save losses which are incurredin feeding the same materials as separate units or mixed up by theordinary methods. In the feeding of chickens especially it has been thehabit to feed various different things such as meals of grains, meatscraps, mashes of various kinds in a dry or wet mix, the point being togive the chickens what experimentation has proved the most desirable forgrowth, development, or egg-laying purposes.

Notwithstanding the fact that nature normally gives instinct to livingbeings to select that particular class of food that they need, yetwithal, when the animal comes under the control of man, man desiredresults which are different somewhat from the normal habits of suchbeings when in wild or feral state. Man feeds chickens to grow fasterand lay more eggs and consume less feed than a chicken, if left to hisown choice, might normally do, but by taking advantage of certainfeatures of palatability, man induces the animal or bird to consume whatexperimentation has proved will cause the development in the animal orbird which man desires for his special purpose.

In the feeding of chickens particularly, it has been the habit to feed avariety of materials, sometimes in the form of dry mash or sometimes inthe form of mixed wet mash and, in either case, there is a largepercentage of waste. In the form of the dry mash the wind blows some ofitaway and the chickens stir it up and lose some of it and areinconvenienced by insufficient or too much water in swallowing thestuff; in the form of the wet mash much of it adheres to the birds hillswhich the birds throw off by wiping off their bills and further thebirds sense of taste and discovery permits them to select out thoseparticular particles which are more palatable to them than others andthus defeat the purpose of feeding a composite or compound food eitherin the form of dry or wet mash. With our own invention we so intermix,blend, and compress together the materials desired in a compound feedthat they adhere together in form and may be made in kernels or granulesof a desired size to correspond to the sizes of grains that may be madeto suit any age or development of the chickens from hatching time tofinal development for the purposes desired by the feeder and our objectis to produce these compound feeds of granular form meals so finelymixed and compressed together that the feed, as it were, has in eachsingle granule or kernel the balanced ration desired. As anillustration; we

blend together corn, milo, oats, wheat flour,

middlings, bran, gluten meal, corn germ meal, salt, calcium carbonate,charcoal, bone meal, meat scrap, cod liver oil, and molasses or othersimilar material desired in the feed to be used in compressed granulesor kernels substantially homogeneous in their content having all of theelements so intermixed and compressed together as to appear s'ubstantially as a grain element which will not break down, disintegrate, orfrom which the bird or animal may not pick out andeat one thing that istasty to him and leave the rest, but will be compelled to take thecomplete kernels, as it were, when it feeds on them.

The materials which form the feed as above indicated vary widely intheir contents of moisture and amounts of what might be termedgelatinous material, such as starches,

dextrines, fat and oil material to the end that those materials asnormally found on the market will not readily form into a granule thatwill stay in shape save only when treated by the methods and apparatuswhich we have invented.

Some materials that are desired to be used in a feed of this kind are solow in moisture and others so low in fat and most of them lacking inwhat might be termed binding or sticking qualities that a specialtreatment must be given these materials in the assemperforming part ofthe work of our method of converting materials used into shape forgranular form.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section elevation of part of the machine shown inFig. 1 being the part that intermixes and compresses together thematerials used.

Fig. 3 is a cross section of the mixing and compressing chamber andcompressing worm shaft on line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation showing a method of feeding a art of thematerial which comes in liquid orm.

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional elevation of the mixing and compressingchamber showing the clamps that hold the sections together on line 55 ofFig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the feeding mechanism which feeds thematerial in meal form to the machine shown in Fig. 1 but any othersuitable feeding apparatus may be used.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an additional feeding mechanism forfeeding liquid such as water or oil, but any other suitable mechanismmay be used for this purpose.

The desired materials which are to be com pounded and deliveredintogranular form, materials of the class herein above mentioned, are firstground into meals of varying degree of fineness but as a generalstatement quite fine passing through what might be termed a screen ofnumber 8 mesh. These materials are Weighed out for the differentpercentages desired in the final granule or kernel and are then mixedtogether by an ordinary mixing machine of any suitable character andthis material then is delivered by any suitable conveyor to the deliveryspout 2 (see Fig. 1), wherein it passes down to a screw conveyorillustrated in perspective view in Fig. 6 and the screw conveyor beingindicated by 3. This mixes and conveys the -material longitudinally towhere it drops out at the point 4 of Fig. 6 and Fig. 1 down into afurther mixing box 5 in which there is a screw or worm conveyor 6 shownin dotted lines in Fig. 1. The box 5 is provided with a steam jacket 7which heats the box 5 and its contents of the material in the box whichis being carried along by the worm or screw conveyor 6.

One of the materials which comes in liquid form is introduced by a spoutor ipe 50 from holes 52 into the mass contained in the box 5, thesurplus not passing through the holes 52 passing down and dropping intoa re serve container 53 indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4 from whichit is again taken by any suitable means provided to the source of supplywhich feeds the pipe 50. The amount of drip of any material to bedelivered through the holes 52 to the box 5 is controlled by the dammingofif of some of the holes 52 by any suitable means here shown by beingthat of nails 54. Thus a close regulation of the amount of liquidmaterial that may be entered into the mix may be had since these nailholes are small and the speed is regulated by the mass passing throughthe machine; those materials or any other material that will flow asdesired may be introduced in the mass by this means or by any othersuitable means of supplying the required quantity of such liquidmaterial.

Another feeder for water or other liquids such as oil, is shown inperspective in Fig. 7 which has a box or container 55 supplied by a pipe56 from any suitable source of supply and this liquid feeder dischargesmeasured quantities through the pipe 57 to the material delivered by theworm 3. An overflow for excess of feed of the pipe 56 is provided bypipe 59 which goes back to source of supply of pipe 56.

In the box 5 the material is thoroughly mixed together and is heated andpassed into a vertical discharge pipe at the right end of Fig. 1indicated by 8 and in this vertical discharge pipe there is a verticallyarranged revolving-worm feed bar 9 shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 whichfeeds the material down to a screw or worm press shown in section inFig. 2 the material coming into the press through the opening indicatedby 10 in Fig. 2. The opening 10 opens up into a longitudinal cylindricalchamber in which there is mounted and revolved a shaft 11 upon whichthere are worm or screw segments 12, 13, 14 and 15. The shaft 11 isrevolved through the medium of gearing in a box 16 which gearing isconnected to be driven by any suitable source of power here indicated bya motor 17 (see Fig. 1). The longitudinal chamber into which the shaft11 with'its worm or screw blocks fixed thereon is mounted and revolvedis composed of a series of longitudinal steel bars 18 clamped togetherby a medium of bolts 27.

The bars 26 are short ,bars between the several sets of clamps 19 and'20. On the shaft 11 at the points 28, 29, and 30 the screw or wormblocks 12, 13, 14 and 15 are absent leaving plain surfaces on the outersurface of the shaft and interposed between the bars 18 at the tops andbottoms of the cylindrical chamber there are scraper bars 31 and 32'which have surfaces which scrape the blank spaces 28, .29, and 30 andthus, as it were, prevent the material desired to be fed forward fromsimply'revolving around-the shaft and not being pressed forward towardthe discharge orifice, but with these scraper bars the material is sodislodged at the points 28, 29 and 30 that it continues to move forwardunder the influence of the worm or screw blocks.

The shaft 11 revolves in a direction that forces. the material which isdelivered to the cylindrical chamber at the opening 19 (see Fig. 2) tothe left of the said figure and by progressive movement of the materialthrough the cylindrical chamber being forced there by the said screwblocks the material is mixed and put under pressure, the pressuregetting more and more as the material travels leftward along thecylindrical chamber. At the left of this cylindrical chamber itterminates in an endplate 33 which has an annular orifice 38. On shaft11 there is an annular sleeve 35 having a radial thickness equal to thehub of worm block 15. The space 34 at the sleeve 35 is equal to theheight of the worm or screw thread of the block 15.

On the left end of this shaft 11 sliding over the sleeve 35 there is acone block 36 having a rounded nose 37 and this cone block is adjustablealong the length of the shaft 11 to enter into and change the shape andsize of the orifice 38 in the plate 33 or dam off this orifice entirely.

The cone block 36 (see Fig. 2) is connected to and travels with a. gear39 which is threaded on threads 40 on the shaft 11, the shaft 11extending to the left of the machine as shown in Fig. 2 and has mountedthereon in fixed position to revolve with the shaft 3- 42 there is aheavy ward through the cylindrical chamber by the said worm or screwblocks 12, 13, 14 and 15 the material is compressed harder and harder bythe reason of the friction of traveling along the cylindrical chamberand this friction may be adjusted to be more or less by means ofadjusting the cone sleeve block 36 to or from the plate 33 opening orclosing, as it were, the orifice 38 where through the material isdischarged by movement of the worm blocks. It is desirable to adjust thesize of this orifice 38 while the machine I is in operation by movingthe cone block 36 to the right or to the left along the shaft 11 andthis adjustment is brought about by hand when desired by placing awrench on the end 43 of a shaft 44 which is suitably mounted in theframe of-the machine and carries a long pinion 45 which engages with thegear 39 and thus moves the gear on its" screw thread 40 on the shaft 11and thus may move the sleeve 36 in relation to the-orifice 38 in theplate 33. When no movement is required of the sleeve 36 the friction ofthe sleeve 36 and gear 39 on the shaft 11 constantly drives the pinion45 when the same may runidle which is at all times possible when theposition of the parts are as shown in Fig. 2 but upon the shaft 44 thereis splineda pinion 46 which may be shoved on its spline in position toengage with the-gear 41. Then as the gear ratioof the gear 41 to thepinion 46 and the gear 39 and long pinion 45 is different,'a slightmovement of the gear 39 is brought about at each revolution of the shaft11 and thus the cone 36 may be pushed by power to move longitudinally onthe shaft 11 and when the right adjustment has been made the pinion 46is slid to the left and disengaged from the gear 41. Thus any adjustmentmay be made of the sleeve 36 or it is allowed to remain as a setadjustment. The material is pushed by the said worms Out through theorifice 38 and falls down in compressed slabs or pieces of peculiarshape amounting to what might be termed pieces of a ruptured annularcylinder. This rupturing is brought about by the discharge of thematerial coming out over the nose of the cone 36. As the material passesto the left along the cylindrical chamber it is constantly crushed,ground, mixed, and pressed together under such tremendous pressure as itreaches the left endiof this cylindrical chamber to the orifice 38thatthe contents of moisture, oil, gum, gelatinous starch, dextrines,fat, and other material ,is pressed from those materials which have asurplus of t-hesevmaterials termed binder materials from one class ofmaterial into the other class and thus distributes these bindermaterials into the whole mass, the previous heating having softened, asit were, any flwaxy,

greasy, or adhesive material that may yield to heat into a sufficientlyplastic condition to cause the same to distribute itself from anyparticles of material that have .a surplus the pressure is released 'thegreater part of the material stays in cakes or pieces which adheretogether. Thus there is converted the material which was meal onentering the machine into broken cakes, and strings of material i11 astate substantially as dense as that of cereal grains before the grainsare ground, and of different hardness, harder than some grains andsofterthan others, but

hard enough sufficiently to hold, as it were, inform. the cakes whichcome from. this screw press and which are later converted inkernels orgranules by cutting and crushing mechanisms not herein'shown.

The materials used'in' this apparatus to form granules are relativelylow, as it were, in total moisture content, probably not exceeding 12percent, or possibly in exceptional cases 15 percent, as anaveragestatement ofthe total moisture content although perhaps in someinstances this may run to about 15 percent with some of the materialused as separate elements.

The point is that the fat, oil, gum, and moisture contents of'the wholemass taken as a whole may not be great enough to per- "mit it to flowback and forth or past the worm or screw blocks without being forcedforward into the compressed state at the discharge end of the machine.

At or near the orifice 38 the pressure hecomes so great in thecylindrical chamber that this pressure is relieved by a series ofperforations 47 in. the zone of the screw blocks 15 (see Fig. 3)and'owing to the great pressure of the material in this section of thecylindrical chamber there is provided a series of small holes 47 throughwhich some of the material is discharged and comes out in the form ofropey stringshaving somewhat the appearance of large earthworms,

the heat and pressure being-so great that this material passing throughthe holes 47 hangs together and falls down the side of the machine'asindicated by 48 in Fig. 1, while that material which passes out theorifice 38 falls down in cakes or blocks indicated by 49 in Fig. 1; Thusthe material is discharged from the machine injtwo forms, one of thembeing in stringy, ropey, wormlike shape as indicated by 48 and brokencakes as indicated by 49. The heat developed in this cylindrical chamberand along the shaft 11 together with the preheating given the ma terialin the box 5 so softens the" waxy adhesive material of any ingredientsufficiently to flow from the material into which it comes in. contactover into the other materials and acts to form a binder that .holds thematerials together in cakes and strings 49 and 48. The cooling iiyhichimmediately takes place on its discharge from the cylindrical.

chamber acts to set this gummy, waxy, oily, or gelatinous material andthus leave the material in a hardened state sufficient after a period ofcooling and curing to permit this material to be cut up into thesizes ofthe granules or kernels de'sired for the feed. This breaking or cuttingup of the material as delivered in the forms of strings or wormlikeappearance at 48 and in cake form at,

49 is then allowed to cool and cure for a period of time suflicient toallow the hardening or setting of the binder material therein containedand then after this cooling procedure is completed these strings andcakes are put into any other suitable mechanism which will cut them upinto small kernels 0r granules of the size desired, this machine beingan ordinary machine used in cutting grains such as corn for chicken feedsizes.

During the cutting of this material into the desired size of thegranules or kernel there is a small percentage of it that appears asmeal or dusty particles and then the mass is passed over a screen whichseparates the" kernels or granules into one "or more size kernels, etc.and the dusty or meal portions are held in reserve until acsuflicientquantity is accumulated and then this is put through the apparatus abovedescribed being the screw press'as shown and it again in turn is pressedinto the wormlike and cakelike shapes previously described since theconstituents of the material are substantially then.

as that when first introduced the difi'erence being that this new mealis homogeneous in itself and the waxy or binding material difv fused inthe mass, so that all that is needed to again make this-material intocake and stringy form from which the granules are made is sometimestosupply a small amount of moisture and to reheat and repress it when itwill then go together into the desired cakes, etc. from which thegranules or kernels are cut and thus substantially all ofthe dust ormealportions which are sifted out from the granules may be conserved andconverted into the same sort of kernel or granule material.

The small apertures 47 serve to increase the capacity of the machineover what might take place were all the material to be dischargedthrough the-orifice 38 and the dampressure be developed and yet increasethe capacity without diminishing the quality of density desired in theproduct as finally discharged from the press.

The quantity of flat, oil, moisture, or other material which might bepressed out of any one of the food elements used in the mixture of themeal is not so great but the corresponding deficiency in other parts ofthe meal permits all of those substances which are pressed out of theone to be absorbed in the entire mass and thus there comes out from thepress no liquid or by-produet forced out by the high pressure invoved,the point being to so compound the meals and arrange the dischargedholes 47 and the orifice 38 that the only result obtained by the highpressure developed in the cylindrical chamber is in forming a dense masswithout losing any of the material which is put in save only as to theheat developed both by heating in the box 5 and the frictional heatdeveloped by the worm or screw feeds does develop a tem perature at andnear the discharge orifice sufliciently high to drive off some of themoisture so that there does actually take place in the machine alessening of the moisture content as the material passes through it, thelessening of the moisture content being one of the factors which assistsin hardening the material into the mass which will hold together askernels or granules as desired.

If the moisture content is too lowsa normally below 5 percent for thewhole mass-the product made is not as desirable nor will it form thekernels and granules sought for for the purpose desired. On the otherhand, if the moisture content of the meal which is admitted in the firstplace exceeds say about 12 to 15 percent of the total content of thewhole mass the desired results are likewise not obtained.

One feature of our invention resides in so conrpounding the materialsused in the meals that they will contain sullicient moisture and bindingmaterial that will become active as binders under the heat and highpressure and agitation and mixing together under this heat and highpressure as to form the material into a cake nature which will staytogether when crushed or cut into the granules of the size desired forthe feed, as described.

The shaft of the screw conveyor is driven from the gearing in the gearbox 16 by any suitable means indicated by a chain 58 runnin g oversprockets which is not deemed necessary to show in the drawings and themechanism which drives the feed conveyor 23 and the water feeder isconnected to be actuated by any suitable mechanism f om shaft ofconveyor(i and it is deemed not necessary to show these details.

\Vhat we claim is:

1. An apparatus for converting differentl'eed meals into compressedstate, comprising a compressing chamber having an inlet opening at oneend, a discharge openin at the other end, and a plurality of relative ysmall apertures located in the upper half only of the chamber adjacentthe discharge opening, and means for compressing and extruding materialpassed into said chamber through the discharge opening and the saidapertures.

2. An apparatus for converting ditferent feed meals into compressedstate, comprising a compressing chamber having an inlet opening at oneend and a variable discharge opening at the other end and a plurality ofadditional discharge apertures formed in the upper half only of thechamber wall adjacent the discharge outlet, .neans for feeding a heatedplastic mass of granulated feed materials through the inlet opening, andmeans within the chamber for extrluling said mass through the dischargeoutlet and the additional discharge apertures.

3. An apparatus for converting different feed meals into compressedstate, comprising a compressing chamber having a discharge opening atone end and additional discharge apertures located only in the upperhalf of the discharge end portion of the chamber, means for varying thesize of the discharge opening, and a screw compressing member rotatablein said chamber.

Signed at (-hicago in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, this29th day of May, 1928.

HUGH HARDING GOFF. GEORGE MAXSON CHAPIN.

